I've been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I started selling cool rocks even before I sold lemonade. At age 8, I hired my two friends to deliver newspapers and gave them 75 cents a day, and I kept 25 cents. I've gone on to start much larger companies, divisions within companies, both within the US and outside, that have led to both success and failure. Venture backed, partnerships, bootstrapped, high growth, retail, commercial real estate, technology, energy, B2B, B2C, B20 - nobody is there to buy) and more. I’ve learned my greatest life and business lessons from my failures. I recently completed a book for Wiley & Sons, entitled The 7 Non Negotiables of Winning: Tying Soft Traits to Hard Results, which you can read about here: http://www.7nns.com. My current company, Fishbowl, is a culmination of everything I’ve learned over my 30-plus business years.

Top 10 List: The Surprising Origins Of 10 Major American Brands

Thought you knew everything about America's most popular brands? Think again.

Think you knew everything about America’s well-known brands? Here are 10 facts about the origin of America’s most popular mega brands we’re betting you didn’t already know. Keep reading and you’ll be the best-informed entrepreneur at your next gathering or network event. Here’s the countdown:

10. Amazon was originally called Cadabra, but it was quickly renamed after founder Jeff Bezos said the name to a lawyer, and the puzzled lawyer replied, “Cadaver?”

9. Berkshire Hathaway was originally a textile manufacturing company for more than 100 years before it became a conglomerate holding company. It was purchased by Warren Buffett in 1964 after then-president Seabury Stanton reneged on his verbal agreement to pay Buffett $11.50 for each of his shares in the company and instead offered $11.375 per share in writing. Buffett was so upset by the slight reduction in price that he bought enough shares in the company to become the majority shareholder and made his first board decision: Stanton was fired.

7. You think Facebook has privacy issues now? The company had privacy issues from its inception in 2003 when Mark Zuckerberg hacked Harvard’s computer network and gained access to hundreds of student photos. He posted them online and garnered a lot of attention and complaints from fellow students.

6. Henry Ford’s first automobile-producing venture, the Detroit Automobile Company, failed after two years of operation, but it was reorganized into the Henry Ford Company in 1901 and then the Ford Motor Company two years later. The third time was a charm, and the company was instantly profitable, even before the popular Model T debuted in 1908.

5. General Electric is the only one of the first 12 stocks that were included on the original Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1896 that still has a spot on that index today. Now that’s what I call longevity.

4. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin wrote a research paper at Stanford in 1998 adamantly opposing the use of advertisements to fund search engines. However, one of the biggest revenue drivers in Google’s business model is, you guessed it, Pay-per-click ads.

3. IBM was incorporated in 1911 when three companies merged into what was then called the Computing Tabulating Recording Company. In addition to producing employee time-keeping equipment, they also made mechanical meat slicers, coffee grinders, and weight scales.

2. Procter & Gamble was formed in 1837 after William Procter, a soapmaker, and James Gamble, a candlemaker, married two sisters and became brothers-in-law. Their company went on to supply soap and candles to the Union Army during the Civil War.

And (drumroll please), the number one item on our origin surprises list:

1. Starbucks was originally going to be called Pequod, after the whaling ship in Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick. When that idea was rejected, the company settled instead on “Starbuck,” the name of the first mate on the Pequod.

And you thought these founders had all the right answers, all along. Perhaps there is hope for us all.

Our company Fishbowl, though not a major brand, has a unqiue history as well. Our inventory control software product started out as a tool for a medical device company. My friends and associates thought I was nuts to invest my personal funds, time and energy to helping six guys turn their small piece of software into a company. They also advised me that no one in manufacturing would buy a warehouse product called “Fishbowl”. I’m glad I stayed on.

Do you have an interesting company origin story to tell? I’m listening. You can share your own story in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

Comments

In the 7NN of Winning – tying soft traits to hard results…you share your dream of what you always hoped a company could be. From everyone at Fishbowl – a big thank you Dave Williams for dreaming big!! Here’s to another great year in the Bowl!

Here’s to big dreams! I thought the topic seemed particularly apropos for all of us now. I find it heartening to realize how many of America’s major companies had to regroup and adjust. It seems nobody has all the right answers at their fingertips in advance. Thank you, Mary. Regards, David

As did I. I thought this piece would be a fun and appropriate addition to the MLK theme. Thanks for reading, Ryan – and thanks for all you do to help us shine our best light from within the bowl. Regards, David